Do As I Say, Please!! (6)
His eyes, a deep blue reminiscent of the night sky just before dawn, gleamed beneath the shadows. The atmosphere itself was entirely different. Could this man truly be the same person as that fool, Iron Colossus?
Chrome Fist swallowed hard and raised his fists. The public image of Iron Colossus was that of a steadfast, solid man with a somewhat dim-witted gaze, who walked with confidence yet lacked any trace of narcissism or ego. But the figure before him now radiated the brutal killing intent one would expect from a mercenary or veteran soldier who had spent decades on the battlefield.
A disaster relief hero? An “old-school” hero? What a joke. This was no old-school hero. This was the face and aura of a man who had been drenched in blood more times than he could count—and didn’t bat an eye at it.
“Goddamn it. Old man, I’ll take the right side, you take the—”
“Whoa, you’re leaving me out?”
“What? You’re running away in a situation like this?”
“Isn’t that obvious? I’m a blacksmith. Why would someone who’s terrified of getting his hands dirty on the field bother fighting? Heh heh. My goodness, little brother, your jokes are going too far.”
“What the hell kind of bullshit are you—”
When Chrome Fist turned with a scowl, Blacksmith grinned slyly and continued.
“If you take care of that guy, I’ll honor our deal as promised. Since it looks like I won’t be the one getting tailed, I’ll ask for a little leniency on the next transaction.”
“…And if I lose?”
“What deal would be left? What use would you be to me after losing these women and getting labeled a villain? Besides, do you really think I’d clean up after you if you lose? I might toss some prison food your way, at most.”
For old times’ sake.
Blacksmith chuckled darkly as he groped Thunderbird’s breast. The casual attitude made Colossus tilt his head slightly to stare at him—before he quickly snapped his gaze forward again.
Chrome Fist, who had been glaring at him the entire time, ground his teeth and charged.
“Where the hell are you looking, you bastard!!”
Whoosh—!!
The vanguard of B-class combat heroes and the face of the TSS Villain Response Division. Chrome Fist’s charge was razor-sharp. In the blink of an eye—before one could even finish a single blink—he closed half the room in one leap and swung his fist at Colossus’s face on the second.
But the most crucial virtue of a disaster relief hero was securing civilian safety amid sudden crises like building collapses and terrorist attacks.
In other words—reflexes.
Whoooosh! Boom!!
Chrome Fist’s punch sliced through empty air and smashed into the wall, sending shattered concrete and brick fragments flying as a thick cloud of dust rose. The moment he confirmed the miss, he twisted his body and unleashed a relentless barrage of fists.
Whoosh! Crunch!!
A picture-perfect uppercut. Two follow-up hooks. Then a low kick using his hips as the axis, another low, then a middle kick. Dealing with villains meant being able to handle any humanoid opponent. The reputation of being the representative of the nation’s top guild’s Villain Response Division meant he could dominate those of the same rank.
Textbook stand-up striking rained down on Colossus from every angle without giving him a chance to breathe.
Boom! Ka-boom! Bang!!
“You… bastard! Are you just gonna keep running?!”
But none of it connected. Not even once. At best, it only grazed his collar.
After creating distance with nimble footwork, Chrome Fist caught his breath and reset his stance. This guy… I’ve never seen him fight even once since my debut…?
Combat technique was influenced as much by experience as by talent. And he didn’t mean beating up civilians. Superhuman versus superhuman battles were always full of variables—variables that couldn’t be handled by talent alone. Some villains spat poison, some discharged electricity, others hurled magic. That was the reality of the Villain Response Division’s battlefield.
There was no way a “disaster relief team” that only poked around collapsed buildings could respond skillfully to superhuman combat.
Which meant… the movements Colossus was showing right now…
This isn’t his first time.
This bastard had fought superhumans before.
├─ Instructor:Onyx Knight
├─ Duration:Nearly 5 years
└─ Lesson:Take the hits. Hit back harder. ★
“Team Leader… huff… haa… huff… Why the hell do we have to do this shit every single week…?”
“Hey now. Is that how you speak to your team leader, Stonekin?”
“I mean, it’s true, isn’t it…? Why would a disaster relief team even do sparring!!”
“Who told you to fight?”
Onyx Knight sighed as if he were pathetic and looked down at him. Stonekin was barely catching his breath, his training uniform torn to near rags. In contrast, Onyx Knight’s suit didn’t have a single speck of dust on it.
“This is all for your own good. So you don’t get beaten up out there. If you just sit around, your senses go dull. Your senses.”
“I haven’t learned anything except how to get hit!”
“That’s because you only get hit. You’re a man—try countering at least!”
“Then give me the time to do it!!”
At Stonekin’s resentful cry, Onyx Knight simply shrugged.
“Your senior took one hit back for every five he received.”
“…Senior Colossus actually threw punches…?”
“Yeah. They were terrible, though. The guy never improved at striking no matter what.”
Onyx Knight let out a small laugh.
“He only threw a punch when I kept beating him until he nearly passed out. He has no spirit. None. That guy couldn’t hurt a fly.”
That was why, when teaching him, she had emphasized one thing above all.
If that’s the case, then just take the hits and hit back. Flashy dodges, stylish counters, and complicated techniques didn’t suit him anyway.
So, trusting in his sturdy body—take any attack that looked like it could be endured, and use that opening to land even one more blow.
That lesson had been hammered into him since his C-class days, beaten into his very bones.
In other words, Colossus had endured Onyx Knight’s “weekly sparring” for nearly five years. Since every superhuman in the Borderland Golems was a physical reinforcement type, her weekly matches had essentially been a crude teaching method of “learn by getting beaten.”
Which meant he had gone through near-real-combat sparring without missing a single week for five years.
Against an S-class physical reinforcement hero—one of the top physical powerhouses in the country.
If one called that practical, bone-and-flesh-shattering combat training…
*
Of course, it was impossible to dodge every single strike. No matter how superhuman one’s reflexes were, the opponent was also a superhuman. Therefore, the way two physical reinforcement types fought eventually became an unrestricted slugfest.
Any jab that could be avoided was avoided. Any trajectory that couldn’t be dodged was deflected or blocked. But that only accounted for less than thirty percent of all strikes.
In other words, for nearly seventy percent of the fight—most of the time—they neither dodged nor blocked.
They offered their face and took a punch to the face.
Ka-boom!
They took a body blow and returned a liver shot.
Thud!!
The moment a jaw was struck, a hook would immediately twist the opponent’s jaw in return.
Bang!!
In such a brawl, there was something strange about the fight between Colossus and Chrome Fist.
From the moment their strength and striking power surpassed the limits of their body weight, even superhumans should have been sent flying the instant they traded blows. Yet the two men stood firm in place, silently hammering each other’s bodies again and again.
Thud. Thud. Boom.
The impact sounds had grown loud enough to resemble construction noise. Long cracks spiderwebbed across the floor beneath their feet before it finally shattered.
It was a slugfest where both men planted their feet, braced with their legs, and continued until one of them fell.
“What a pair of brainless meatheads.”
Blacksmith muttered with a bitter smile. It’ll be decided soon.
Even though he lived far from the fighting world, he had spent a long time in the underworld as an A-class villain. Just by watching the flow of battle, he could roughly predict who would win.
Sure enough, the exchange of blows paused. Chrome Fist staggered backward, blood dripping from his face as he gasped for air.
“Y-you… you bastard! Weren’t you from the disaster relief team?!”
“I had a good teacher.”
Colossus answered indifferently as he pulled his leg free from the floor where he had planted it. No matter how fast the opponent was, he couldn’t be faster than an S-class. No matter how fierce his momentum or how strong his power, he couldn’t surpass an S-class physical reinforcement hero.
In other words, when it came to close-quarters combat against a physical type—Colossus had accumulated unrivaled combat experience even among A-class heroes of the same level.
Therefore, if the opponent was assumed to be a B-class physical reinforcement hero like Chrome Fist, Colossus held absolute superiority in every aspect.
He was the so-called “strictly superior version.”
In reality, even as Chrome Fist bled profusely from his broken nose and spat out shattered teeth from between his torn lips, Colossus stood there with only minor scratches—barely different from how he had looked at the start.
The solidity of their physical reinforcement and the maximum output of their instantaneous muscle strength were on completely different levels. Even if they possessed identical abilities, the gap in tier made him the “superior version.”
“Huff… haaa…!!”
“Are you done, little brother?”
“Shut… up!!!”
Chrome Fist gasped as he reset his stance. Anyone could see that the tide had already turned. He glared at Colossus, who stood motionless in the same posture, then suddenly glanced at the collapsed Botal Rabbit.
“Wait a minute… Old man. Now that I think about it, this is hilarious.”
“Hm? What is?”
“There are two S-class bitches here, yet we’re the ones fighting.”
“…You want to use these women in the fight? Have you thought about what happens after?”
“Who gives a fuck about what happens after when we’re all about to die?! You’re just stalling because you believe that too, old man.”
Blacksmith froze for a moment. He was right. With all his subordinates down, there was no way he could escape all the way to the harbor while fighting a physical reinforcement superhuman. He had stayed because he thought Chrome Fist might win against a disaster relief hero.
But he had clearly missed his chance to run.
However, as Chrome Fist said—if they gave “orders” to these two S-class heroes…
The “bomb collars” around these women’s necks were single-use. Meaning they would regain their freedom after obeying a single command.
In that case, it was practically a stalemate.
If I order them to commit suicide to eliminate future threats…
Both would die by Colossus’s hand.
If I order them to fight Colossus…
He would have to face two S-class heroes who had regained their freedom.
When his thoughts reached that point, Blacksmith let out a dry laugh.
“Well, I’m completely screwed.”
“Business is all about risk, right? Huh?”
“You idiot. Do whatever you want. Even if you win, I’m washing my hands of this whole affair.”
Blacksmith dusted off his hands, stepped away from Thunderbird, and retreated. He shrugged and shouted at Colossus.
“Hey, Mr. Hero. You heard that, right?”
When Colossus tilted his head and stared at him silently, Blacksmith grinned and continued.
“I’m stepping out of this matter. I can’t release the hostages… so I’ll hand them over to this idiot. Win and take them. Lose and they’re gone. You’d better fight hard, yeah?”
“Old man, what the fuck are you saying!!”
“Shut up, you stupid bastard. I feel like I need to smash the skull of the idiot who trusted a moron like you and pushed this business forward!! Anyway, Mr. Hero. If you ever have connections with our Shanghai Shanhehui in the future, I’ll give you a discount on a few magic tools. So let’s smile at each other next time we meet, shall we?”
As Blacksmith spoke with a sly grin, Colossus took one step forward while staring straight at him.
“You think I’ll let you leave?”
“Whoa, calm down. Is my life that important to you? It isn’t, is it? You have to know how to move according to people’s importance if you want to swim in the big leagues.”
Blacksmith, who had already retreated into the corner, chuckled as he leaned against the wall and manipulated something. Soon, a heavy clunk echoed as a passage opened.
“Well then, everyone, enjoy your time.”
“Wait, old man! Just wait!!”
“Oh, right. Chrome Fist. You’re correct. There’s no need for you to fight at all.”
Blacksmith snapped his fingers with a mocking laugh.
“I’ll grant you command authority over those two women. Try to survive, won’t you?”
He gave Chrome Fist one last smirk, then left without looking back.